Election: Shuster all but secures his 9th District seat in Congress

U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster on Tuesday all but secured his seat in Congress.

Shuster, chairman of the House transportation committee, held off conservative challengers Art Halvorson of Bedford County and Travis Schooley of Franklin County in the Republican primary.

Shuster held a slight majority throughout the evening.

Pennsylvania's 9th Congressional District stretches across 12 counties, including Franklin County. In the district's unofficial results with all precincts reporting, Shuster had 24,105 votes (53 percent), Halvorson 15,761 votes (35 percent) and Schooley 5,802 votes (13 percent).Halvorson won Bedford County. Schooley made strong showings in Franklin And Fulton counties, but ran third throughout the district.

"The Chamber congratulates Bill Shuster on his primary win," said Rob Engstrom, senior vice president and national political director, U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "He has a proven record on issues that boost economic growth, and is focused on removing regulatory barriers, and making our infrastructure system work. We thank our partners in the state and local business community for their support, and we look forward to continuing to work with Congressman Shuster."

In Franklin County with all 75 precincts reporting, Shuster had 5,456 votes (45 percent,) Halvorson 3,849 votes (22 percent) and Schooley 2,667 votes. (22 percent.)This is the first GOP challenge to Shuster since 2002 when he survived (51 percent to 49 percent) a scare from businessman Michael DelGrosso. Shuster's re-election committee raised $1.2 million for that race. His committee raised $3 million this time, more than 10 times Halvorson's war chest and 100 times the amount Schooley raised.

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During the campaign Halvorson, a retired U.S. Coast Guard captain and real estate entrepreneur, took Shuster to task on social media and in the national news outlets. Schooley, an alpaca farmer and projects manager for Quincy Township, ran a quieter door-to-door campaign.

Shuster's campaign slammed Halvorson and said little about Schooley. Shuster billed himself as "proven conservative."

Schooley had been encouraged about his prospects because neither the Shuster nor Halvorson camps released polling data after early in the campaign.

"This race is wide open," Schooley said on Monday.

He said he tried to avoid negative campaigning.

Shuster is likely to face Democrat Alanna Hartzok of Chambersburg. Hartzok garnered 30,574 votes in the Democratic primary, including 3,875 in Franklin County. She was unopposed.

The 9th District has a solid GOP majority. Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly 2-to-1 in Franklin County.

Shuster succeeded his father, Bud Shuster, to first win the seat in the House in a 2001 special election.